State lawmakers push for a bill to prohibit minors riding in bed of pickup trucks

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State lawmakers push for a bill to prohibit minors riding in bed of pickup trucks

Ala. (WHNT) – It’s been one year since four young people lost their lives in a fatal wreck near Guntersville. Two of those victims were riding in the bed of a pickup truck.

Now, state lawmakers are trying their hands again at a new transportation bill. It’s one that could help prevent tragedies like that from happening.

The bill has failed in the Senate before. But, there’s a strong chance it could pass this time around.

Representative Mike Rogers wants stricter transportation regulations in the state. The congressman says a bill prohibiting youths from riding in pickup beds ‘has a good chance’, but he can’t speak for everyone.

In a statement Rogers said, “minors would not be allowed to ride in beds of pickups on public highways. if adults want to be that stupid, that’s their business. but kids have no business going in a pickup bed on a public highway.”

Alabama state troopers already enforce the proposed law to, an extent.

“Alabama law says that any child under the age of 15 has to be restrained if he’s in a vehicle. That’s regardless if they are in the front seat or the back seat,” said Trooper Curtis Summerville.

With that said, I think we all know we cannot restrain a child in the bed of a truck.

Summerville added, “certainly in the back of a pickup truck a child cannot be buckled up. So, again, just by the spirit of that particular law, they cannot ride in the back of a pickup truck on public roadways.”

Most states have a strict ban on riding in truck beds. Alabama is one of 19 states that doesn’t.

The bill probably won’t go before the House of Representatives for a vote until next Spring. Representative Rogers said he thinks it has a strong chance of getting included for a vote.